Teachings of Jesus Sample

Heavenly Reward

When it comes right down to it, humans are willing to do things for one reason: we perceive whatever we plan to do to be in our best interest. We will willingly (sometimes eagerly) endure hardship or defer pleasure to obtain good rewards. 

Jesus acknowledges this reality in setting the standard by which we should love others “as we love ourselves.” However, our perspective about what truly is in our self-interest is often skewed due to sin.

Jesus clarifies exactly what is in our best interest—what will help us reap the rewards of His Kingdom. Jesus encourages His disciples to seek the best and truest rewards, the treasures that will endure. Nothing on Earth can match the rewards of our Father in Heaven.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus presents this as a binary choice. We can seek a reward from our Father in Heaven, or we can seek a reward in the world’s systems and the approval of our peers. We can either do one or the other, but we cannot do both. We can’t serve God and money.

Matthew 6 talks about how we give, how we pray, and how we fast. These are just three examples of the way we encounter this choice: do we fast or pray to impress others, receiving the reward of their approval, or do we fast and pray to seek God, trusting His reward will come in His time?

Our heart always follows where we invest our treasure. The extent to which our finances are invested in ourselves—or God's Kingdom through service to our family, neighbors, and community—gives us insight into where our hearts are focused.

If we seek earthly riches, we will certainly lose our treasure when the things of this world pass away. By choosing the treasures of heaven, we pursue a real and lasting treasure. That is how our true self-interest is best served.

Lord, You designed us to pursue rewards. Give us the wisdom to seek the rewards that will last.